Hello Steve,
We did look at your Local directory, but we don’t recommend to our clients yet, as your site appears to focus on the Twin Cities. For the cost, it may be worth someone listing in the Minnesota, but the value ($150/year) is hard to justify to our clients outside that area.

Thanks for catching that AhmedF. We’ve corrected that.

Mat,

Great resource you’ve put together, we’ve just signed up to do a pilot with UBL. I was skeptical until an old friend took over as President and now we’re going to give it a try.

Followed you over from Jeremy’s post on HuoMah.com.

Cheers,
Will

…. I thought that I would also chime in on your comments concerning “The Importance of Online Local Listings”

It’s critical to point out that with Gmaps in particular, a business should claim it’s listing because if they don’t it can be – and probably will be – hijacked at some point.

I just read an interesting post on another blog where a mom and pop local business had it’s Gmap listing go awry until they actually claimed and verified their listing.

Some better perspective on this reality at: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/02/25/google-maps-vs-locksmiths-spammers-spammers-winning/comment-page-1/#comment-335329

Sorry about the ugly url but the post by Mike Blumenthal is a great read!

Cheers
–Wilf

Hi Matt,
We started as a local Minneapolis directory, (TCBusiness.org_. We are now expanding internationally as V-Local.com. We will be providing service for clients in a 50 states Canada, and the UK. Then we plan to expand to other countries.

Thanks!

Steve

Hey Mat,

That’s pretty much what I expected. Thanks for verifying. You saved me an email

Love the logo btw – and a nice read on crowd sourcing.

Cheers
–Wilf

Hello Rob,
We don’t recommend Acxiom at this point, as we’re not aware of any serious impact they have on getting customers “in the door” for local business. We might be wrong of course, but InfoUSA and Localeze both provide local data to online while Acxiom appear to take the “old phone book”, aggregate the data and resell it. We do know Acxiom does supply ContractorGuide.com and a few other niche local directories with data, but we are not listing the Niche verticals since they are just that, niche (perhaps a future post on local niche directories).

If anyone knows of Acxiom and its power to drive local business via online use of its data, please correct me.

Mat, thanks for including GetFave.com. One of our big differentiators is that we don’t force you to compete with reviews…we have all seen the allegations against Yelp out this morning. We allow you, and not your reviewers and competitors, to control your own listing and create the message you want to deliver.

Hey Patty,
I’m actually a fan of the print yellow pages in some ways. No one can refut their power in reaching an older demographic locally (they still account for over 30% of local search, the equivalent of the major search engines!) I always recommend a local business be in there, especially if they target “mature” customers. I just wanted to say that, as I’m not anti-paper or what-not

hi Matt
would you mind adding our local search directory click2connect.com to your list. We use localeze data.
We are in beta phase right now and will soon be releasing our social networking interface for local search.
We see local search as primarily a social application.

traderruss,
Thanks for letting me know about your local search engine and directory. The purpose of the post is to break down all the local search engines, directories and data providers that a local business needs to submit to. I know the list is a little “Murky” when it comes to the Yellow Pages sites, as they all go to the same place. I will have to resolve that in the future I guess.

Since your site does not accept submissions of local businesses to get into your site, I don’t want to lead people looking to do that there, however, I think it is important that readers know about your site as an example of why they need to submit to Localeze, or for that matter Universal Business Listing which includes Localeze. Knowing how to “get into” your results needs to be spelled out, so I am more than happy do that.

Thanks Steve!
I have thought about taking down the Canada info and just having the US, as it has been difficult to get info about Canadian listings (and we don’t have any Canadian clients). But, with the help of Canadians, I think we can include it and get it right.

InfoCanada has told me Canadians can go submit their business to ContentFeedback@infoUSA.com, but I wonder.

Did you try Universal Business Listing? They “Feed” infoUSA.com and bet they handle Canada. It would be interesting to see if they cover InfoCanada as well. I’ll do some asking of the people I know there.

Thanks Intermediate! We like to think we know it all (ok, someone here in particular). It’ll just take some more time to download our minds into more posts.

Hey Jason,
You are right, BOTW does have standard free listings. I will change that.

That is a great article. I am going to link to it as well, right beside Magic Yellow’s listing. With the traffic they get, they do belong there, but you are right, small business need to be told that they may be getting a call for an offer that might not be the best money spent in their advertising budget.

Excellent Poll! Its at http://www.growmap.com/local-search-poll/. I use Google Maps and am very happy with it for personal use. By the way, your site is awesome. I will be moving away from local for a while in this blog and hope readers wanting more will head over to your blog. Its the best Local Search Marketing Blog on the planet right now.

Nice comprehensive list! Just added a link to it from our online directories guide at http://www.ecoyp.com/directories/

Just wanted to clarify a comment above. Acxiom provides data to white pages and credit card companies. Have you ever paid with a credit card and then had to enter your zip code? Well this is done to verify you know what zip code your credit card is registered. Acxion provides all your zips code information to the credit card companies. Also Acxiom owns Localeze. Just my two cents.

-@john_rodriguez

Hey Steve,
If I had the time, I would do it manually and I would not stop at directory submission. A lot of the sites listed are review sites. I would also write a relevant and keyword rich review of my business.

The one thing that would be missed by not using Universal Business Listing is the speedy submission to InfoUSA and the site it populates. As another small business, you will wait sometimes months to get into InfoUSA, the sites it feeds and a few key sites listed. UBL will speed that up.

If I were to think of the best way, I would use UBL then spend my time writing reviews and enhancing each listing. When you consider the cost of listing with just one directory like Yahoo! (which is still commonly done for SEO reasons), the cost and value of UBL is hard to beat.

Sure. Its great MatchPoint.com is moving in this direction. Now that people can submit to your site, you definitely belong on here, and with the business you have already, and the way your site is growing, MatchPoint.com gets good placement as well.

Thanks Sebastien for letting me know. This looks like a great idea, especially for smaller cities like Halifax NS that are not likely to establish something due to the smaller population and smell of fish

Your welcome Seattle Carpet Cleaner. As much as I like getting kudos from other Internet Marketing Professionals who like this blog, it means a lot more to me to hear it is appreciated from the people it is intended for.

Thanks!

Minneapolis. Glad you find the list of value. I created it for an eMarketing Manual I wrote for a SaaS and them improved it for the Blog. Sorry for the tech issues. I have never tested it on Chrome and I suspect that is your browser.

Hey Mat,

Have you looked at areaconnect.com or citysearch.com?

-Martin W.

Hello Jiminyclickit,
Localeze is a datasource like InfoUSA.com. They are covered by Universal Business Listing. Local.com is the largest of the Local search engines that can not be feed by Universal Business Listing. I think they are a must to list with. Not sure why they have not partnered with Universal Business Listing yet.

Your idea sounds awesome. I’m not a Local Search person myself, just someone who saw the need for this list and is trying to help others cover the local board.

Hey urNetwork SEO Service,
Thanks, that is why I created the list and am proud to maintain it. I seem to be a hit with the SEO crowd. I really need to work on getting more SMB folks cause as you know, they really need it.

Keith

Hey Mat,

I am creating a custom Search Engine that will search only Local Directories. I am populating it with your great list (thank you) to start off with and manually adding more every day.

I will make it public soon. I expect to have over 150 – 200 local business directories. The engine will only search those, giving the customer an idea of how saturated they are in local search listings.

I will send u a link as soon as it is up.

Great discussion and lots of great directories being mentioned. Just to clarify a couple of Localeze comments. Acxiom does not own Localeze there is no relationship there as @john_rodriguez commented back in April. Also UBL and Localeze do not have a relationship, submitting to UBL will not impact your Localeze listing in anyway. We are absolutely in the local search content management business and supply business listing data to 100’s of local search sites. Thanks for talking about Localeze, I’d be happy to answer any additional questions people may have.

Thanks for the great resource!

What do you think of using UBL as a business? In other words creating lisitngs for Small Businesses using UBL and charging them for it? What do you think would be a fair price?

Thanks in advance.

Hello James,

Good question. I suspect that a lot of SEO companies with local clients use UBL and of course charge for it. I have a lot of respect for SEO companies and know the value they provide. They will take a local business listing, optimize it for local search engines and directories THEN submit it through UBL or manually. This way they offer tremendous value (keyword research, overal strategy etc). UBL is a great submission service, but is really watered down without the listings being optimized inside of a greater SEO strategy. I imagine SEO companies are charging a lot more that just the listing services, but it is for their own services and the value they provide.

I hope that makes sense. By the way, I think there is plenty of room with UBL to make a business based on them. Think differently, look at different Internet business models and brainstorm. That is how all great Internet Business Strategies are formed.

Keith

Thanks for taking the time to assemble such a comprehensive list! Because I work for myself, every dollar that I spend on search engine optimization comes out of my own pocket. So, I’m trying to do as much of it a possible myself. And, in doing so, your list has proven extremely valuable.

Thank you for your comment. You are the exact type of business I am trying to help here. It really helps to hear the post is of value to you.

Thanks for providing a really well thought-out list of resources. Your blog is extremely impressive and you have obviously put a lot of time and energy into providing useful content for others. Again…thanks for your efforts. Your information and inspiration is greatly appreciated.

GEO.
info@GroundZeroWebDesign.com

I don’t know how many times I have queried for “local directories” and some other variations, however in this list I’ve come across some golden nuggets I haven’t seen before. Thank you!

This list and your other blog entries have been extremely helpful to me as I go through the sometimes laborious daily tasks of marketing my small business online. Thank you for providing such useful information to the small business community through your dedication and obvious extensive research into this very important subject matter. You have just earned a lifelong reader.

Sincerely,
Joseph Bellows
President
503LoanModication.com

Thanks. I was writing an eMarketing Manual for a SAAS last year and got it started. A bit of spit and polish and Viola.

Hello Nikku,
I see 2-3 weeks for the majority of local search engines. Normally, Info USA (which feeds most of the others) takes 3 months to get in. Considering this, 3 weeks is really fast tracking it! Hope that helps.

Wow, that is just why I did it. Awesome to hear of results! Thanks for letting me know, it helps be stay motivated!

Hello Mauibob,

I think there has been changes since I wrote this post, but about a month ago I considered updating it and realized that the changes have not been that significant. I plan to update it for the new year regardless.

Thanks for Reading.

Mat,
I do print advertising sales for my “real job”, but I understand the bigger the internet get the harder it will be to sell print. So for the last four months I have been devouring everything I can get my hands on about web design, SEO, SEM, PPC, and how to make a living from internet businesses.
Most of my print clients are as clueless as I was, so I have been passing on as much info to them as I can. When I do a key word search for their websites, many of them I cannot find unless I type in the URL. Often when I right click “view source” I am amazed how many times the key words, title tag and description tags are done with very little thought. I can see how UBL can be a big help to many of my clients.
Your blog is one of the most resourceful I have come across. Keep up the good work.
Thank You,
Mark

Hello Roy,
Great to hear you find this valuable!

My company specializes in Website Optimization, and of course, Local SEO is part of that for companies like yours. We don’t actually work directly with companies directly however, rather we only offer our services through SEO, Web Development and Interactive Agencies. I know, I know, I’m the only blogger who can’t generate new business from his blog LOL. I am glad you find this stuff useful! I love to empower the “little guy” like we empower the big guys.

thanks for the information and collection of data and will be very helpful. Glad to see people take the time to help others.

Thanks for the great resource. I look forward to trying UBL and seeing how their service compares to manually entering data in terms of increased PR and affecting organic search results for local search.

Great resource. What do you think of any paid directories for local promotion? Has anyone had any luck with BOTW Local?

Hi Mat,

While I’m afraid of getting an influx of spammy online “businesses” perhaps you’d be interested in checking to see if grokodile.com is suitable for inclusion in your list? Thank you.

Mat,

FYI Localeze.com is now feeding business listings for Bing Local and Bing 411 to use as described here in this WebProNews.com article.

Local is the word lately. I hope iphone comes to Verizon, so I can jump on the mobile local search band wagon.